Mr David Trimble appeared locked on a collision course with Mr Tony Blair last night after rejecting the Prime Minister's June 30th devolution "deadline" and calling on the Secretary of State and the RUC Chief Constable to review the status of the IRA ceasefire in the light of last week's attempted murder of the RUC double agent Mr Martin McGartland.
Mr Trimble, who began the day accusing the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, of exhibiting "a Nelsonian approach to terrorist violence", said that while "not absolutely proven" there was in his view "no reason to doubt" the attribution of the attempt on Mr McGartland to the IRA.
And with just seven days to go to Mr Blair's "absolute" deadline for the creation of the executive and the transfer of powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly, Mr Trimble told the BBC: "I have never regarded June 30th as a deadline; a target date, but not a deadline."
His blunt dismissal of the deadline, unilaterally announced by Mr Blair last month, followed an earlier warning that even the temporary suspension of the Assembly would be "the government resolving the decommissioning issue against the democrats and in favour of the terrorists."
The growing tension between the Ulster Unionists and Downing Street were barely disguised by an implicit call from Mr Trimble for Dr Mowlam's dismissal as Secretary of State.
Speaking to reporters in London yesterday, Mr Trimble said a "widespread lack of confidence" in Dr Mowlam was one of the "great difficulties" in implementing the Belfast Agreement.
With Mr Blair expected back in Belfast tomorrow, the Ulster Unionist leader said: "One of the great difficulties we have had in implementing the agreement, particularly in the run-up to the formation of an executive, has been the widespread lack of confidence in the community, particularly among Ulster Unionists, with regard to what the Secretary of State will do."
Amid renewed indications that some senior Ulster Unionists would actually like to see Mr Peter Mandelson, the former trade secretary and close confidant of Mr Blair, replace Dr Mowlam, party sources last night insisted Mr Trimble's comments about her had been "blown out of all proportion."
Mr Blair, too, shrugged off Mr Trimble's attack on Dr Mowlam, saying: "Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland get used to being attacked by virtually everyone. There is nothing new in that."
However, Mr Blair himself had earlier been the subject of a warning by Mr Trimble that his honour would be "besmirched" if he gave in to Sinn Fein over IRA arms.
In the Times of London Mr Trimble wrote: "Most British people still regard Tony Blair as having the potential to be one of the greatest British prime ministers. He is now fresh from his success in an honourable war. One fought for humanitarian reasons, not a war fought for oil or power or aggrandisement. But he is in danger now of being brought low, of finding his integrity questioned and his honour besmirched."
The article continued: "People in Northern Ireland who last year believed him are now beginning to lose faith. In Kosovo he correctly identified the democratic interest. He saw clearly who were the terrorists and successfully insisted there should be no deviation, no weakening. He has succeeded in obtaining a Serb withdrawal and the beginning of disarmament by the KLA. But in Northern Ireland he seems to have lost that clarity of vision."
Of Mr Blair's deadline, Mr Trimble said abandoning the agreement at the beginning of summer would be "simply irresponsible."
He continued: "It would be very sad for us if a Prime Minister who had garnered so much credit for his country in opposing terrorism in the Balkans should find himself, through understandable impatience, giving too much comfort to those who have not yet crossed the bridge from terrorism to democracy.
"In Northern Ireland, as in the Balkans, there is no alternative to sticking to the right course, no matter how difficult things may seem."